Barack Obama's modus operandi is: I think, therefore you do.

We should admit the obvious: Barack Obama is the most anti-political president the United States has had in the post-war era. Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter (even), Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush. All practiced politics inside the tensions between Congress and the presidency that were designed into the system by the Founding Fathers. Not Barack Obama. He told us he was different. He is.

Mr. Obama doesn't do Washington's politics. Disappointed acolytes say it is because he is "passive." That underestimates him. For Mr. Obama, the affairs of state are wholly a function of whatever is inside his mind.

Some things remain in his mind, like the economic benefits of public infrastructure spending, which appeared one more time in Monday's post-Navy Yard speech on the lessons of the financial crisis and Congress's obligations to agree with him. Some things enter his mind and then depart, like red lines in the Syrian sand.

From where he sits, it is the job of the political world outside to adjust and conform to the course of the president's mental orbit. Those who won't adjust are dealt with by the president himself. They are attacked publicly until they are too weak politically to oppose what is on his mind.

This is the unique Obama M.O. For historians of the Obama presidency, this September has been a case study in the 44th president's modus operandi.

ENLARGE

Martin Kozlowski

Early in September, President Obama surprised Washington by announcing he would seek a congressional vote of support for taking action against Bashar Assad in Syria. This came after the red line went. In an account of that decision, The Wall Street Journal reported that after taking a 45-minute walk with his chief of staff, Mr. Obama told his staff, "I have a big idea I want to run by you guys."

After meeting with the president, two significant political figures in Washington expressed public support for his announced plans to act against Assad—House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

The president's decision to intervene wasn't popular with the American public or with members of Congress, so the Boehner-Cantor commitment was a big deal. It was a public expression of political support at the moment the president needed all the political support he could get.

A week and a half later, Mr. Obama reversed course. He would not seek congressional approval. Instead it occurred to him that he could negotiate a Syrian chemical-arms reduction agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The merits of that decision aside, ABC's Jonathan Karl reported that neither Mr. Boehner nor Mr. Cantor got a heads up from the White House on the U-turn toward Russia.

Throw a dart at the names of the other 11 post-war U.S. presidents. Would any of them have hung a Speaker of the House out to dry just before heading into negotiations with that speaker on funding the government, extending the debt ceiling or the future of your legacy achievement—ObamaCare? Barack Obama did. No problem.

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On Monday, Mr. Obama delivered what the White House called "Remarks by the President at the Five-Year Anniversary of the Financial Crisis." After waving in the direction of the Navy Yard shooting and then the 2008 financial crisis, Mr. Obama spent most of the speech's nearly 4,000 words ripping into the congressional Republicans.

You have to read it to get the flavor. This passage should stand as a classic of the Obama politics of anti-politics: "The problem is at the moment, Republicans in Congress don't seem to be focused on how to grow the economy and build the middle class. I say 'at the moment' because I'm still hoping that a light bulb goes off here." (Laughter from the invited props.)

Gridlock? He's sucking the political oxygen out of the city.

There's plenty more. "The last time the same crew threatened this course of action . . . ." The same crew? As a bonus, we're getting a post-modern presidential vocabulary.

". . . they're willing to tank the entire economy."

"Are they really willing to hurt people just to score political points?"

The GOP leaders "haven't put forward serious ideas" on entitlement reform. And: "I put forward ideas for tax reform—haven't heard back from them yet." As with much else here, everyone in Washington knows that statement about taxes is false. But in the Obama post-politics apocalypse, what difference does it make?

Twice he announces, "I will not negotiate." But he is negotiating with Vladimir Putin something infinitely more difficult than a debt deal with John Boehner.

Trace elements of normal politics are inevitable in any presidency. But this one over five years has floated beyond the American political tradition. The Obama modus operandi is reducible to this: I think, therefore you do. Everyone else who still does real politics—from one side to the other—is left to gape.

The fortunate or unfortunate consequences of living in a Constitutional Republic, you must accept the decision of the electorate. The solution is for the GOP to nominate a viable candidate which seems to be virtually impossible task now and for the foreseeable future.

When people describe a good politician like Angela Merkel, they speak of the need to dialog and form coalitions to govern. Even president Johnson worked the Congress, friend and foe alike, to achieve anything.

Barak Obama can use the tactics he uses because he has immunity granted by main stream media, and by the US Senate. If, and this is just one of many examples, a Republican were to blatantly break the law by granting congressional staffers immunity from their own healthcare legislation it would be the only major news story as long as they were in office. That time might also be short since a Republican president would almost certainly face an impeachment proceeding in the Senate.

Media immunity extends to the entire Federal section of the Democratic Party. If Republicans had used the IRS and FEC to target political opponents, it would be, literally, the biggest news story since Watergate - even bigger than 9/11. Since Democrats are the culprits in this case it's an occasional story on even numbered pages. Indeed, there is no level criminality that Federal Democrats can sink to for which they will be held accountable. The Democrats know this and they have become corrupt. Illegally set aside the Obamacare employer mandate for one year but force individuals to pay the individual mandate. No problem. Continue building vast databases on US citizens in violation of the express language of the US Constitution. You got it. There are too many examples to list.

Perhaps, most corrosive of all, is that the Democrats during this administration are the only group since the Civil War that feels that attacking the American economy and blaming it on opponents is a viable political strategy. Throughout the Obama Administration there has been a history of impossible demands which have kept the economy on ice for five years, and yet media has always spun the story that if the administration were able to extract unlimited resources from, and give any mandate to, the private sector, the economy would be just fine. Dream on.

Despite all of the propaganda the American standard of living is declining, and media subscriptions are discretionary expenses. The paychecks being destroyed and devalued will include those in the ministry of propaganda as well.

Everything Obama does is judged by the lefty propaganda apparat on the affirmative action curve. Subtract that and he's just Al Sharpton without the marbles in his mouth. If you gave Al the keys to the Treasury and said, "Here, steal, all you want," he'd do exactly what Obama's doing. The country and its future are being robbed blind by the party of thieves. They spend money we don't have in order to buy votes so they can go on spending money we don't have so they can go on buying votes. When do we stop playing the sucker for these bums?

Bill Clinton is a master politician, and according to Gary Brunner : "Truly, Obama is a legend in his own mind." Neither statement is true. What is true is the simple fact that the Republican Party is a stupid party. That is mainly due to the fact that the Republican Party is host to the ugliest American men and women (like Michelle Bachman, pastor Jones, Alan Keys, Donald Trump ..etc) and hence host to the most stupid decisions of the country!

Tom, Bill Clinton would not have been a great president had it not been for the stupid side who shutdown the government. Now guess what ? Another great president is about to be born! Let me give you a simple lesson: Hate always backfires. That is why your beloved blabber is imprisoned in Texas for the rest of his life. Instead of posting such a worthless note, why don't you try and enumerate what the Republican party has ever accomplished for America?

Nice try, Daniel. Perhaps you'll enumerate the number of times that the Speaker or the Majority leader have approached the President to negotiate a funding deal or a debt limit deal that would pull the Republicans back into the mainstream of political thinking?

The President is far from perfect but Republicans set this situation up - created their monster, if you will. They spent four years convinced that they could avoid deal-making, make his Presidency crash and then walk into the White House in 2013 and start the revolution. Well, they were mistaken. Gravely mistaken. And they have a President, and a populace, that doesn't trust them - and shouldn't.

Rather than lick their wounds and start to deal, the Republicans - the far right wing, particularly - have started all over again. Raise a fringe idea as mainstream legislation and then wonder why "King Obama I" won't negotiate with them. Wonder why the American people think they're living in their own private la-la land.

Nice try yourself there William. BHO is the country's, and the government's leader. It is his job to "calm the seas', restore order and create the win-wins where both parties can reach across the aisle. Its not the GOPs responsibility to make that happen. They are not the party in power. Obama is a self centered, small and petty human being. Blaming the GOP won't change the fact that we have a community organizer as a President at a time when the world needs a real leader.

William, stop studying the talking points and find YOUR MEDS....how many compromises, meetings or even phone calls did Pelosi make to any GOP member during the health care debate that lasted nearly a year? After the sodium pentathol kicks into your liberal brain wash...you still won't be able to calculate the correct number.....ZERO!

That's funny, Joe, but not representative of the facts. If I recall, in term 1, the President invested a good deal of energy and time in trying to reach out to House leadership on budget and economic issues. He got nothing for it. True, he got Speaker Boehner to craft a deal with him but, as you know, Speaker Boehner doesn't control his party. He, in his words, "listens," and then follows orders.

No, you can't negotiate with zealots.

There's no kool-aid here. The President clearly was not prepared for the job, so there's blame to go around but you can sit at the table as long as you like, if nobody serious sits on the other side, you might as well get up and go it on your own.

Leads to crappy government, agreed. But you're pointing at the wrong guy

You need a team of repairmen. You have been operated, without maintenance, to the point of catastrophic failure. I am not sure a team is enough though. You may require a frame up restoration as all of your parts are either obsolete or just worn slap out.

You gotta put a little grease on the bearing every now and then Billy, I am sure the hamster would appreciate it.

Mr. Keefe, the mainstream of political thinking is not a stream but a sewer, a rapidly rising and fast running sewer that has been fouling everything in this country for the past 100 years--from the Constitution to Wall Street, from our money to the press, from educating our children to providing health care, etc.--and is about to overflow, completely destroying the source of the this country's greatness--the middle class. And, we have opportunistic, short-sighted politicians from both "mainstream" political parties to thank for that.

Yes, Carol, what we need are more narrow minded, intransigent zealots, more fringe thinkers, that was what framed our Constitution, that's what built our country - fringe thinking. And I agree further, neither education nor good health is necessary - frivolous expectations of the "taker" class. Thank heaven you're here to lend a stream of crystal clear thought water to the sewer filth that has "compromised" to making us the greatest nation on earth.

Ever wonder why there is a huge disconnect between Obama's words and his actions? It's because his hidden agenda is so incredibly horrific for America's future that he can only attempt to operate under the radar (unbiased scrutiny) and simultaneously deal with the checks and balances built into our Constitution (the highest law of the land that he routinely tries to ignore or trample) to achieve his sinister agenda. Sometimes we are afforded a glimpse of the truth when he "slips up" and says things like, "I will fundamentally change America". When was it decided that America needed an overhaul? His true legacy that no one sees yet is that Barrack Obama is truly a wolf in sheep's clothing....he is a dedicated Marxist!!

It is time for the national media to scrutinize this notion and put the pieces together and report the obvious. I can find no action or policy put forth by this president that either improves America or strengthens her for the future. His doubling of the national debt is being done by purposeful design. It is a useful tool to buy votes and retain power and simultaneously be used to bankrupt this capitalist exceptional nation.

American citizen, we have work to do to repair our nation and end this charade of a presidency!

GOOD NEWS: The greatest evil imaginable is impossible without government.

Well stated, Jerry! It is becoming apparent to more and more Americans that our President has an agenda and yes, it must be too disagreeable to share with the public. But I have that issue with much of the Democratic agenda. Why could they not tell us what was in the Affordable Care Act? We were told we would have to read the bill, yet apparently no one did before voting. The deception and lies cause one to wonder. If they truly have the better interest of the American public in mind, why must they deceive?

william,yes, in fact, it did. and all americans benefited from it. that is what occurs when one brings outside, real world managerial experience to the position. unfortunately, the current community organizer lacks this experience and the whole world is seeing what this is getting us.

In taking a step back from all of this, I find almost all presidents during my adulthood to have been entertaining, albeit for the wrong reasons.

The only ones for whom I have respect are Gerald Ford doing his best to finish out the remainder of Nixon's second term, Ronald Reagan in his first term only for cleaning up Carter's interest rate fiasco and making the USSR allow increased emigration from that hellhole, and the Senior Bush for knowing when to get into and out of Iraq.

The rest of them in my opinion have been either smart enough but morally unfit for the job (Nixon and Clinton), or just didn't have the skill-set to handle it (the others). There's a great expression in Spanish to describe all of this, but I can't post it on a forum such as this one.

William that is the problem. You believe that what Obama did was really trying to reach out. His reaching out was either "his way or the highway". A leader is not someone who "tries' to reach across the aisle and when it doesn't work blames the other side. A true leader finds a way to make both sides come together and finds the solution. Øbama just does not have that ability and the country and quite frankly a large chunk of the rest of the world is paying the price for the gullibility of the American electorate.

Those of us with true executive experience will easily recognize the executive in over his head by his failure to effectively lead others. Obama just lacks the experience and skills to do the job. He was in over his head after the campaign was over. He knows it, and the Democrat political apparatus knows it. It is a common malady of one so unprepared for his role to create a bubble and contract his operation into a cerebral singularity.

The REAL problem is our main media for having coddled and protected Obama from being accountable. It is a weird love affair with indications of a some white guilt or black apologist excuse... maybe a sort of presidential affirmative action. Proof of this is made apparent by the treatment he gets from the foreign press... an institution that does not share any emotional affinity for Obama the idol... and only reports on him as the President of the US.

take your "true executive " hat off and open your mind. I know it must seem a bit too abstract to be applicable to the real American world .but I hate to have to tell you ..Obama is a Marxist revolutionary busily and brilliantly demolishing America-American freedom, american capitalism, and American law...he is a pure revolutionary fanatic and will prove, given more time,as revolutionary as stalin as destructive as hitler but hey in the words of some myopic fellow rinos(Romney for example ) he is "a good family man."..which implies that he aint really that bad....well,in over his head or not ,you and the rest of us,are merely HIS expendable pawns....he hires and fire guys like you ...every day....guys with executive hats.MYOPIA HAS CONSEQUENCES.

Obama's only practical experience was capitalizing on his victim status, fostering others' victim status, and organizing the disaffected with the techniques of Saul Alinsky. In Obama's mind, this has worked, and he is continuing to do what has worked for him. He has been quite honest: America has to be transformed, coal needs to be abandoned as fuel and its industries bankrupted to name just two.

Alinsky would be insulted by the article. The way Obama acts is vintage politics of the "powerless" in Alinsky's view. Constantly phrase issues in terms of the middle class; demonize the opposition, hoist them on their own petard as not abiding by their own principles, chaos is a friend of the powerless.

Obama is standing on the shoulders of FDR, who consciously developed dependency as a political strategy; LBJ, who was such a consummate politician that he just couldn't avoid using political power to achieve whatever he happened to think was a good idea at the time; and George W Bush and the Establishment Republican Party who, consciously or unconsciously are convinced that being the Democratic Party-lite is the only path to their political success. I personally found the phrase "compassionate conservative" insulting.

Very, very sad, but we are pretty much getting the government we deserve.

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